ARC Review: "Slip" by L. Ryan Storms ★★★★★

ARC Review: Slip by L. Ryan Storms

This clean young adult contemporary romance uniquely blends mystery and magical realism to tell the story of a girl navigating extreme anxiety-inducing situations and a boy determined to support her throughout. Storms’ brilliance of intrigue, thought-provoking narrative and realistic tones make this a touching tale that is absolutely worth a read!

How can you have a relationship with someone when you slip every time your blood runs hot? Every kiss? Every argument? What kind of resentment builds when I experience it all, and he never does, when I remember angry words someday exchanged, but he never actually speaks them?
And yet, I don’t break it off. I want this too badly tonight. I want him. I want to be a normal teenager for one godforsaken night.

[Contains some spoilers]

PLOT SUMMARY
If we all could go back in time 9 minutes and 53 seconds – to change the timeline of events, to take back something we said, to save a life – would we? For 16-year-old Penelope Jane “PJ” Ellis, she has no choice. Any time anything anxiety-inducing happens, she is thrust back nearly 10 minutes to experience it again and avoid triggering herself again. And this is where she gets her nickname “Slip” from, as she slips back in time.

The worst part? Nobody really knows about her ability, except for her best friend Mariana Salvadore. Her busy mother doesn’t believe her which forces her to spiral into the past and never bring it up again. Most of the time with her own means of managing it (meditation and running) and with the help of Mariana, PJ can cope just fine. Until, of course, the return of Ethan Thomas Morrow (because T. Morrow, get it? Tomorrow? Brilliant haha), a boy she knew from elementary school who moved to California.

Handsome, charming and considerate, Ethan begins to take an interest in PJ and she likes him. But she is worried about how things would work out between them. What if she experiences her first kiss twice? What if she says horrible things to him and he doesn’t know because she unsays it or vice-versa? Deeming herself undatable with her messy situation, she tries to avoid him.

But it doesn’t matter if PJ changes her route home, or waits 20 minutes so she doesn’t bump into him, Ethan still encounters her. A string of circumstances occur, thrusting them into each other’s paths more often than she’d like. And with it is the eerie realisation that there is more to Ethan than meets the eye, because he remembers some of the conversations they have that he shouldn’t be able to – because they were said in another timeline!

I thought I was the only one who could change and make different decisions in my repeat time of nine minutes and fifty-three seconds. Everyone else always seems to be on a set path. It’s always been that way before. So why not now? Why is Ethan different?

This is told from the first-person present-tense POV of PJ.

OVERALL OPINIONS
If it takes 9 minutes and 53 seconds for PJ to slip back in time, that’s how long at the most it took for me to fall completely in love with this tale! Truth be told, YA can be a hit or miss for me but this one was a surprising gem. I cannot express enough how stunning this story is! I was hooked so early on, I was dying to read more, I was so compelled by the mystery of Ethan. This is wonderful and I will be thinking about this for a long time. It reminds me of the film About Time but for YA.

This started strong, with an excellent opening that instantly tells the reader (if they hadn’t sussed it out already) this is about time-travelling. I really liked the way PJ directly talks to us at the start: “Reader, I have no idea how old I am.” which instantly made me think of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre “Reader, I married him.” – but both of them are incredibly dissimilar. Other than the obvious difference in genres and intended audience, Penelope Jane speaks with profound uncertainty as she faces constant flux whereas Jane declares with resolution as she now has stability in her life. Perhaps, I digress too much.

This book has brought out my very overanalytical side methinks, because it was very thought-provoking from the very first page. Take this example, as PJ mulls over what could go wrong:

They should let me get my driver’s license a few days early, at the very least. Not that I plan on driving. I mean, I could slip while I’m driving, and then what? What if I “arrive” at my new location while I’m in the middle of making a left turn or something? No thanks. I’ll stick to walking. Or running—I do a lot of that.

This is just the kind of thing that we the reader want to know, and she only knows as much as we do.

Indeed, what works so well with this story is its relatability: the trickiness of high school, the butterflies of first love, the severity of anxiety. I think everyone can relate to the pressures of high school, how important grades can be for your future career. I myself can get quite anxious, not to the extent of the author herself but if I have anxiety I cannot eat for ages and have to distract myself to be able to eat again. Being a perfectionist doesn’t help matters either haha! I like that this is so realistic: that even if you have an ability to change the past, or can run as fast as PJ can, some things will always be inescapable.

Storms’ choice of covering teenagers and their anxiety from a different and fresh angle with the use of an overthinking and accidental time-traveller is marvellous. The scene where PJ gets annoyed at Mariana because she doesn’t know what it’s like will resonate with anyone suffering from mental or chronic health issues. No two people are the same and it’s hard to know what it is like for someone else. The importance of merely being there for someone can make someone’s life all the better for it, as emphasised in this book. We need our crazy but understanding Marianas and supportive Ethans. Find them!

Oh and Ethan! What a sweetheart! This book (and clean YA romances generally) serves a great reminder that spice is not needed for one to feel the chemistry and bond between two characters. The stargazing scene alone was lovely, and every little deed he does or every thing he says throughout the story made me fall for him harder than I think even PJ did. I mean, swoonworthy:

“I didn’t think we could have a happy ending.” I hate how raw my voice sounds right now. I pull back from his hug and wipe a tear from my eye. Every time I manage to stop crying, I start again.
“How about we just start with a happy beginning and save the endings for later?”

<< Positives >>
🠚 The cover is stunning and symbolic with the split down the middle, PJ going on a run in the centre of the image, the two faces in different directions. It literally shows that she has two different split timelines happening (the current time, then the 9 minutes and 53 seconds before).
🠚 The cog as the paragraph divider every time she slips is ingenious!
🠚 Unique yet relatable. Not just the sense that it doesn’t matter if you try to outrun things, it will always be inevitable but the teenager element too like people will know that kind of discussion with parents about wanting a pet very well.
🠚 Plenty of humour especially with PJ’s friend Mariana (she has great puns), but many heartwarming moments between them too where they both support each other. That is kind of healthy friendship people should look for where the effort is a two-way thing.
🠚 A very sweet relationship between PJ and Ethan. There is plenty of passion. It was funny her doing all these extreme things like throwing the banana in the other timeline so he’ll remember how psycho she is and it’ll put him off but he still likes her despite it all.
🠚 The mystery surrounding Ethan is so enticing, I kept reading to find out more.

<< Negatives >>
🠚 I wanted more details about the time concept. *How* exactly was Mariana able to help PJ calculate that’s how far back into the past she goes?
🠚 I wondered if anything about Marco would come into play later, because it is mentioned he was bitter a few years ago about her rejecting him.
🠚 I did cringe at PJ’s mother’s reaction to the breakup. The last thing you would be talking about is if he was a good kisser.
🠚 When PJ says “Can handwriting sound like a person’s voice? I swear hers does” – I actually wanted to know what kind of handwriting she has (was it swirly like she was in a rush or disjointed or clipped?) as it could tell us more about her before we have even met her.
🠚 I wanted PJ to open up to her mother about her ability.
🠚 The epilogue felt a little short. What did Ethan decide to do after? Did he pursue geology? Or did he decide to do photography?
🠚 The text screenshots could have just been the text bubbles themselves rather than the whole messaging interface, as this takes up some unnecessary space.

CHARACTERS
-ˋˏ ꒰ PJ꒱ ˎˊ-
↳ Her self-awareness is admirable. The origin of her nickname Pidgeon is really cute! I’d love to work in a library too.
I overthink, just like her. I also relate to the fact that lots of girls in my class in school wanted to wear heels at the first opportunity, but I was always one for flats and if I did do heels it would be small block heels.

There’s nowhere to hide from Ethan this time. And I don’t want to.

-ˋˏ ꒰ Ethan꒱ ˎˊ-
↳ “sandy-haired, hazel-eyed, dimple-in-one-cheek” not only that, he’s so lovely as a person. I like the scavenger hunt idea he has at the start in order to ask her out.
His sense of humour is immaculate! I love his overenthusiastic and embellished information for his Planetarium tour, I laughed.

“you’re the kind of girl who can make a guy completely crazy, wondering if you enjoy being with him or not. You’re thinking. Always thinking. And sometimes I think the thoughts must be good because you get this spark in your eye, like you’ve just figured it out—all of it, all of life. And then, there are these other times when I think the thoughts aren’t good at all because you look like you want to run away as fast as you can. And it makes a guy lose his mind because… sometimes a guy really wants to kiss a girl like you.”

FAV QUOTES
• Ethan is adorable, but I’m not into adorable. I’m not into sun-kissed brown hair or hazel eyes or smiles with dimples because I’m not into anything. I’m into *not* slipping. That’s it. That’s all my life has ever been. A struggle not to slip.
• I’m pretty sure Jenny doesn’t have more than three brain cells, so I hope she’s not thinking too hard. She’ll burn one of them up and only have two to use for the rest of the year.
• The stars are starting to come out, though I can’t see many of them beyond the bright lights of the parking lot. Ethan follows my gaze and then grabs my hand. Touching his hand, holding his hand, makes my breath catch a little.
• I like Ethan more than I care to admit. I don’t want to like him, but there’s something about his smile that hits deep in my chest. I can’t explain it. It’s like when he smiles at me, he’s sharing a part of himself he doesn’t share with anyone else
• He shows up when I don’t think I’m going to have to interact with anyone, when I’ve finally let my guard down. Maybe that’s the real reason I slip with him. He’s so genuine that it’s impossible not to let him through the safety barriers I try to keep in place.
• I’m surprised to find I *want* to hear his problems. Usually, the thought of adding other people’s troubles to my own has me running in terror. But things with Ethan are different.
• I also love that when we’re running, neither of us feels the need to talk. It’s just sunshine, birdsong, and feet on the ground.
• Sometimes, I’m really not sure whether I want to hug or strangle Mariana Salvadore. Maybe both.
• I’ve missed several of the meteors. I’ve never felt like I wanted to experience everything at once, like I’d miss out if I focused too hard on either Ethan or the meteor shower. It’s kind of unfair that the two vie for my attention. Maybe I need to immortalize Ethan in the stars, and then I can watch them both at once.
• And for the first time, maybe ever, I’m struck by the fact that I don’t feel the need to say anything. This is just…perfect as it is.
• What is it about this boy? Why doesn’t he want to let go? Why does he keep showing up again, even when I slip, even when I make a point to avoid him?
• “I know. It’s dumb. That’s why I texted. It’s not phone-call-worthy.” | “It’s always worth talking to you.” There’s a soft honesty in his voice.
• “PJ, you’re the most incredible girl I’ve ever met. You’re funny and athletic and smart and gorgeous inside and out and…and…not a day goes by where I’m not glad to know you, where I’m not happy to have spent even a short time as your lucky boyfriend. Because that time was the best time of my life, the first time where I felt like someone understood me, like someone else got it, you know? You’re that someone. If you’d…succeeded in ending your life, I’d still be wandering around, feeling alone and wondering if anyone in the world was worth connecting with because you are, PJ. A thousand times over, you are worth it.”
• Happy beginnings are a great place to start. They might even be better than happy endings.

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I received an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review and I’d like to thank L. Ryan Storms for the opportunity. This has not affected my opinion in any way.

“Slip” is out April 15th!